Kael Ragnini

Kael Ragnini (she/her) is a second-year PhD student in the Clinical Science program under Dr. Jill Hooley. Her research interests encompass reward learning in psychopathology and the mechanisms underlying risky and/or self-damaging coping behaviors including non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), substance use, and restrictive eating behaviors. 

Prior to graduate school, Kael was a research assistant in the lab of Dr. Kate McHugh at McLean Hospital, where she helped launch a long-term follow-up study within NIDA's Clinical Trials Network of individuals who have undergone treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD), as well as projects characterizing NSSI and chronic pain in adult inpatients with severe OUD. She also has previously worked as a research assistant with Dr. Heath Schmidt at the University of Pennsylvania leading projects focused on the neurobiological effects of drugs such as cocaine, nicotine and opioids, and how peripheral metabolic factors such as GLP-1 can be targeted to reduce addiction-like behaviors in preclinical models. Kael graduated from Vassar College in 2019 with a BA in Neuroscience & Behavior. 

She is originally from Barrington, Illinois, and in her free time enjoys swimming, running, watching horror movies, and doing arts & crafts.